Integrate Khan Academy into Canvas.

[ckinna]

I would like to integrate the full function of Khan Academy in my Canvas. This would include their comprehensive practice, quizzes, and progression tracking tool. Has anybody in the Canvas community had experience with this, and what do you suggest?

[josephclaytonha · Accepted solution]

I like the idea of adding Khan Academy into Canvas, but I wonder if there's clarity on what exactly that integration looks like. For example, we can already link to Khan Academy on Canvas fairly easily. Are we looking to add Khan Academy progress to the Gradebook? This could cause a bit of turmoil, as Khan Academy progress wouldn't be tied to a school account. 

Linking to KA seems like an excellent idea, and I think we could work on expanding ways to make that easier or create awareness- what further integration is being discussed here? 

[Stef_retired]

 @ckinna ​, as your question prompt invites an ongoing discussion about using Khan Academy, with no single reply likely to wind up being the "correct answer," I've changed the format of your post to a discussion.

[kristin_bayless]

We are looking for the same capabilities. It would be nice to hear from Instructure's partnership staff to find out if this is in the planning.  It must have come up prior to this.

[Jeff_F]

We have what many consider a 'full' integration with various textbook publisher sites.  Depending on the approach taken, at the end of the day you may end up with Canvas as the front end and container for what amounts to sets of links pointing to the textbook publishers portal.  The 'integration' is more or less a linkage of the grade book.  Publishers are very motivated to create this online content that is linked to the sale of textbook bundles. 

As for Khan Academy I thought best to point out the LTI tool, which enables quick searching and basically embedding of code to view various items such as videos.  I am unsure what would be the motivator to develop an integration of this free content.  But I am curious if anyone has created full math courses using Khan and shared in Canvas Commons.

Canvas Khan Academy LTI tool - YouTube

[algirekr]

I work with an organization that is training post-bacc fellows to take their MCATs, and we're using Canvas to organize their study plans. It would be incredibly useful to the instructors and the students to have the full integration with Khan in this situation. 

I have other courses that I'm helping to design that will also find this beneficial. What would a potential timeline for development look like?

[josephclaytonha · Accepted solution]

I like the idea of adding Khan Academy into Canvas, but I wonder if there's clarity on what exactly that integration looks like. For example, we can already link to Khan Academy on Canvas fairly easily. Are we looking to add Khan Academy progress to the Gradebook? This could cause a bit of turmoil, as Khan Academy progress wouldn't be tied to a school account. 

Linking to KA seems like an excellent idea, and I think we could work on expanding ways to make that easier or create awareness- what further integration is being discussed here? 

[bunzejj]

This is a good point. As of right now, Khan does allow districts to auto roster Khan Academy classes from a system such as Clever (which is in turn linked with the rosters on Canvas). I'm not sure what kind of data is used to create those accounts for students and whether it's enough to create hard connections between Khan Academy and Canvas.

There are unique IDs for Khan Academy users (known as the kaid) so there seems to be some infrastructure for tying accounts between the two systems especially if they were auto rostered.

I think what a lot of people are looking for is a way to import scores for exercises, quizzes, and tests and then a completion flag for videos and articles into a corresponding Canvas assignment. Again, the infastructure is already available on Canvas' side (their public API) but the Khan side is fairly closed off.

[jessica_gregers]

If Khan Academy could be used in Canvas similar to how EdPuzzle can be used, that would be ideal. With EdPuzzle, students don't need to create a new account to use it within Canvas, instructors can assign it using the 'External Tool' option when creating an assignment, and their individual work and scores are stored in Canvas. Khan Academy being integrated in the same way for exercises and practice (not just videos as it is currently) would be perfect! I understand the argument that there isn't much of an incentive to do this for a product that is available for free, but with so many instructors utilizing Khan Academy, it seems that it makes sense for Canvas to be able to say that their LMS integrates fully with Khan Academy. 

[gbutters]

Please work with Khan Academy to be able to add all features not just videos. 

[lisaschlottman]

I absolutely agree. We should be able to assign work in Khan Academy through Canvas and have the it automatically graded. There is no way that I can create the interactive content that Khan Academy has! Why can't we do this?

[jspoering]

Two big things would be especially useful:

• Students and teachers would only have to manage one assignment posting venue
• Integrating the Khan Exercise and Quiz Scores directly into the Canvas Gradebook would save teachers countless hours of migrating data manually and students would have their grades instantly updated when complete

[jzbroderick]

That one video that was suppose to talk about the Canvas LTI and Khan is not available. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qDc0Aqvz_I 

[James]

 @jzbroderick  

Videos do disappear. It might have been replaced or it might have been obsolete. It might not have lived up to the professional standards of the creator.

I didn't watch it when it was around, but it was probably demoing the Khan Academy app in the EduAppCenter.

Here is another video I found: Khan Academy Classes and Embedding in Canvas - YouTube 

[mchaus]

I followed the directions from this YouTube video, but when I click on Khan Academy in the External Tools, I get this blank menu 

[lisaschlottman]

Yes! 100% agree!

[leanna_mcdonald]

I'm reaching the same screen as mchaus has posted above.  I also don't have the green leaf in my Rich Content Editor but Khan Academy is listed as an external tool when I go through assignments and submission type. 

Is this because my district hasn't enabled the feature or is there another reason?

[bunzejj · Accepted solution]

I came across this thread last spring looking for a way to make this work. Unfortunately, Khan Academy's API is non-existent anymore making a direct integration difficult. So, since last spring I've been working on making a way to make the two communicate as best as possible. I developed an application built on a Google spreadsheet that reads in Khan Academy CSV files and automatically sends the scores to your Canvas grade book. It does take a little bit to set up because it needs a way to match students in Khan and Canvas. The link below will take you to a website that has the spreadsheet and extensive documentation on it and how to set it up. I linked a demo video below to see it in action. Hope it helps someone! Feel free to report any bugs to me.

Demo: https://youtu.be/oQoVrhpp7R0

Website: https://apps.joshbunzel.com/docs/khan2canvas/

[elad33]

It would be great to be able to integrate the Khan Academy Practices with Canvas. I appreciate the Sheets based work-around that was offered (very impressive work), but that plan is not a robust solution for most of us. This topic should not be tagged as solved. 

[Stef_retired]

If you're interested in seeing a deeper integration, please send that request to Khan Academy and ask them if they'd be willing to devote development resources to such a project.

[bunzejj]

I definitely agree Khan Academy should be working to integrate this. I think it's worth pointing out, though, that KA had an integration not that long ago (I don't think it transferred grades but just allowed linking content) and that disappeared when KA decided to completely kill off their API as of July 2020 (link). Without a functioning public API, there isn't much chance of this happening or even someone trying to make a direct integration on their own. 

Why they got rid of their public API in the first place I have no idea.

I got sick of waiting and made what I did, getting as close as I could to an integration. But even then, ignoring the fact that they have no API, there isn't a way to import students with sortable names. Both Google Classroom integration and district auto-rostering are unreliable for supplying sortable names for students. It doesn't sound like Khan Academy's integration department is up to much of anything these days. The only change I've seen to Khan Academy in the three years I've been using it is they added the option to include a start date on assignments.

Note: for those of you who don't know what an API is, it's an application programming interface that bascially allows systems to "plug into" each other and share data. Canvas has an absolutely amazing public API. Wish others in the edtech field were more like them in that sense.